Book 7: The Heart of a Duke (anthology)

The Heart of a Duke by Samantha Grace
My rating: 3 of 5 stars on Goodreads

What I liked best about The Heart of a Duke was the interconnectivity of the stories. Thematically, the anthology was about this group of five young Regency women (from upper society) searching for love. With the help of a gypsy charm (a locket), they find it. I really enjoyed how each woman found success and passed the locket onto the next one. Also, not only did the individual stories worked well, but the epilogue and prologue, which covered the group together and how they received the locket, worked extremely well. The gypsy in that story had her own love story to go through. So overall, I don't think I've ever seen a Regency anthology's individual stories fit so well together.



That being said, there were things I liked and disliked about the individual stories.

Some of the issues I had with them were due to their lengths. Very few short stories or novellas go from meet to marriage (or proposal) well; they always feel a little rushed. All of the stories had some problem with this, but the one that handled it best was Miss Valera Bell's tale (story 2). I'll try not to drop in too many spoilers, but the situation between the hero and heroine seemed the most believable. The hero was nicely jealous and the heroine misunderstood him (his love, his intentions) in a believable (and entertaining) way. I enjoyed the conflict, and the characters felt real. Not only that, it had some good humor throughout.

The next best story considering its length was the first, the one about Lady Eleanore. I was definitely rooting for the hero and heroine to get together, and I enjoyed the journey there, the teasing, the conflict, the heat. However, my main problem with it involves a minor spoiler. The hero had been in love with the heroine for a long while, but his thoughts about her are almost always focused on the physical. I can understand lust being an early step to love, but by now, he should have moved on to some other traits--lasting ones--that hold his attention. Now that I have started on the spoilers, I'll add another. I liked the heroine's attempts to get her intended to kiss her, to see if they had passion together. Great minor plot, for it tied in well to the overall story.

Some ideas in the other three stories were interesting, but again I felt length hampered development. The thing I liked best in Lady Alison's story (story 4) is the unusual hero and heroine. They were scientists, and we readers knew they can fit well together if only the hero could get over his problems (the need to be worthy of her). That was the main conflict for the heroine as well--helping the hero along. However, there was a minor conflict, her being torn between fantasy and science. But it was never really present in the story, so I felt too much was made of it at the end. (Also, I'm a sweet Regency fan, so this one was a little too lusty for me.) Length hampered Lady Aldora's story (3) in a different way. This one began with a great, humorous set up that went wrong for the heroine. However, the problem was the hero had a dark past; it should have affected him more, and it should have taken more to get past it, but there just wasn't time to develop this. Finally, a similar character problem occurred in the last tale, Lady Charlotte's. Major spoiler: This was the duke's tale. Throughout the stories he was painted as a cold person, though not vengeful despite his misfortunes in love. But basically, he did not want to marry for love. After four stories painting that character, it takes a lot to undo that, to show him ready to love. I just didn't feel it. Also, this story had an interesting situation to draw the hero and heroine together, but it was never developed; the characters didn't play it out. This tale had a lot of potential, but for it to be fully realized, I feel it needed to be a novel and it needed to make use of that plot device it set up.

So overall, like with almost all romance short stories or novellas, the love stories felt a little rushed, but they worked well together as an anthology. I definitely think The Heart of a Duke is worth a read.


(My review is based off a free e-review copy from Netgalley.)